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The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide: Phil Williams
The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide: Phil Williams
The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide: Phil Williams
PHIL WILLIAMS
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2014 by Phil Williams
The moral right of Phil Williams to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations
in a book review.
ISBN-10: 0993180809
ISBN-13: 978-0993180804
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4
Colour coding..................................................................................................................... 5
The Present............................................................................................................................... 32
33.3 Predictions................................................................................................................ 76
The Kindle version of this book has been optimised to get you straight into the topic – you’ll find
indexing and a discussion of forms at the back of the book.
INTRODUCTION
This guide will take you through the English tenses from Past, to Present, to Future, with
each section covering four main forms (Simple, Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous).
There are initial notes on grammatical form, examples for each form to demonstrate use, and
detailed explanations for both the rules and the practical uses of the tenses.
These explanations are designed to help you learn the specific English grammar rules for the
tenses and to identify common (often more flexible) usage. The complexity of the tenses and
their uses often arises from native English speakers’ ability to bend the rules of the language.
In many cases the rules give way to general patterns, which can be difficult to master – this
book is designed to help.
Time in the English language is essentially shown using twelve distinct grammatical
structures, referred to as the tenses: four for the past, four for the present and four for the
future.
These twelve tenses can be used for many different purposes. Because of these different uses,
they are often called aspects rather than tenses. For the sake of simplicity, this guide will
discuss these different grammatical forms (aspects) as tenses.
The tenses tell us about the specific points in time of actions, events and states. These can be
summarised with short grammatical rules, but (as is true with much of the English language)
these rules have many exceptions, and do not tell the whole story. This is because English in
practical use is always changing, and English is spoken so widely that different uses emerge
from different regions. It is also because over time English has evolved to be used in
particular ways, with ingrained exceptions to even the most simple rules.
For example, the present simple normally represents a timeless fact, for instance heated water
boils, but it can also be used to talk about conditions in the present moment, such as I feel
happy now. (A use that is explained in Error! Reference source not found..)
This guide is designed as a complete comparison of the tenses to help explain where these
exceptions emerge, why certain tenses can be used in different ways, and how to choose
between similar uses.
This guide offers explanations of form, examples of form and explanations of comparative
uses for each tense. You can read the sections individually to learn about different aspects of
English, or you can read the book in order, to get an overall understanding of the tenses. The
guide is designed to be read in full, but you may choose to use it for reference.
The guide begins with an explanation of the general rules of Form, to show how the different
tenses are constructed. Each section then presents the Affirmative (Positive), Question,
Negative, and Negative Question forms of a tense, putting the form rules into practice with
numerous examples.
Following the form examples, the different uses of each tense are explained, followed by
notes on how the uses relate to other tenses. These parts will help you understand the unique
functions of the tenses, so you can choose between the tenses in everyday use.
In many cases, this goes beyond the basic single-use rules you may find in other textbooks, to
show both the pure grammatical purposes of the tenses and the other ways that native English
speakers use them.
There are regular examples and illustrations to aid understanding, with a glossary of grammar
terms and additional information in Error! Reference source not found.. The examples used
are deliberately varied and often unconventional, so carefully comparing the uses and
examples (including those in the form tables) may help test your understanding of the
information offered here.
There are no exercises in this book, but you may be interested in pairing this self-study with
The English Tenses Exercise Book, which is designed to specifically drill understanding of
this guide.
Please note that this guide is written in British English. Although some consideration has
been given to the differences between British and American English, it may still contain
regionally specific language.
Colour coding
For e-readers that support colour, this guide is colour-coded to highlight important grammar
points, structure and examples.
Events, actions and states described by the past tenses are usually finished, or were
interrupted in the past, and do not directly affect the present moment.
Using the past, you can talk about complete events, events that were completed before other
events, and events that were ongoing or interrupted at specific times before now.
Something happened.
Something was happening at a certain time in the past.
Something had happened before another past event.
Something had been happening before another past event.
These different tenses give you the ability to explain the past in sequences, and help you to
relate different past events to each other.
1. PAST SIMPLE FORM
1.1 Past Simple - Affirmative Form
Note: past simple questions using to be (was, were) do not require to do or a bare infinitive.
Note: past simple negative statements using to be (was, were) do not require to do or a bare
infinitive.
You were not quick enough.
He was not a member of the club.
Note: past simple negative questions using to be (was, were) do not require to do or a bare
infinitive.
The past simple is mostly seen as complete. This means the action or state described has
finished, and can no longer change, with no direct effect on the present.
The past simple does not have to refer to an activity, it can also describe a complete or
finished feeling.
I felt sad when my dog died. (at that specific time I felt sad)
The past simple is often indicated by a past time, such as last week, in 1982, or on Monday.
It may also be indicated by a time clause, often introduced by when.
A time clause is a clause (containing at least a subject and a verb) which describes a specific
time.
In the above example, the whole clause when they gave him a piece of cake is a time clause,
representing a time (the moment that the cake was given to him), signalled by the adverb
when. Time clauses are covered in more detail in Error! Reference source not found..
The past simple can be used to emphasise detail. If the past simple is used when another past
tense is possible, it stresses that the action was complete.
For example, the present perfect is usually used to discuss visited locations, because
experiences in different locations continue to affect us now, and can be added to, such as “I
have been to France.”
If you say “I lived in France.” it emphasises that you were there for a fixed, specific period
of time.
Similarly, we use the present perfect to say I have seen this movie, because the experience
affects our current opinion. But I saw this movie last week (past simple) emphasises the
completion of the action. It stresses when you did the action, and that the action was
finished.
You may use the past simple to stress that you completed a recent action. This may
demonstrate insistence, for example if you want to emphasize who the subject was:
All of the simple tenses (in past, present and future) can be used to describe certain states
(usually verbs relating to conditions, emotions, senses and possession).
In the past simple, states are completed in the past, and are commonly found with to have
(usually showing possession) and to be (usually showing emotions or conditions).
The past simple does not always tell us the state finished, though – and it may represent an
ongoing state, or a state that was interrupted. It simply tells us that the state happened in the
past.
In these cases, the states were ongoing, and may not have ended, but it is important to use the
past simple and not the past continuous here.
There are many common state verbs that use the simple tenses; they can be grouped to
demonstrate states of mind (suppose, think, believe, understand, know, want, love, hate,
need, like, prefer), existence or possession (be, have, exist, belong, own) and senses (feel,
smell, seem, taste, appear, look). Learn these examples, and be careful to use the simple
tenses for them, and it will become clear when similar verbs are appropriate.
Note, that this topic is also covered in Error! Reference source not found., and in Error!
Reference source not found., to give further understanding of how specific tenses are used
to describe states.
ENJOYED READING?
This sample represents about 10% of The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide,
formatted as a PDF for eReaders. It is also available optimised for particular eReaders, and in
paperback format. If you found it useful and would like to read on, get the full book directly
from the ELB site HERE.
This comprehensive guide covers everything from style and planning through to spelling
rules, editing and considerations for specific areas of writing, such as cover letters, academic
writing and creative writing.
Quickly master the basics of English sentence structure, with simple grammar that focuses on
the parts of speech. A long-term Kindle bestseller, Word Order in English Sentence has sold
over 10,000 copies worldwide.
Over 160 exercises specifically aimed at perfecting understanding and use of the English
tenses in practice – from simple drills to detailed prose-based reading exercises.